Hot Air Balloons and The Parade

We woke up bright and early Monday morning and headed to downtown Provo to see the hot air balloons.  As we are habitually late for everything we missed the big launch.  It was unfortunate but we still got to see a lot of the balloons in the sky, a first for my kids.  We were all looking up, enjoying the scene when I noticed that Adam was missing.  I froze.  Panic went through my body as I asked every member of my family and no one remembered seeing him for at lease five to ten minutes.  There were people shoulder to shoulder on the field by the balloons.  I had no idea how I was going to find him.  I began to RUN straight toward one last balloon that had not launched.  If I were a three year old boy, that's where I would be.  Everything was a blur.  I was scanning the crowds and coming up short.  I ran back to the car and shot hopeful glances at my family but they had not found him either.  After the longest 10 minutes of my life a woman said that she had seen a little boy with some people who were looking for his parents!  Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers (and for being in such a family friendly place).  I was so relieved when I ran up to Adam and squeezed his little body!  He had gone the opposite direction down the street toward the shops.  What a nightmare! We kept a close hold on Adam for the rest of the morning. 

      After finding Adam we went out for breakfast and then headed for the big Parade. It was warmer than I expected it to be and I was getting worried about where in the world we were going to find a place to sit and watch. As we were wandering the sidewalk we landed in front of two large easy up tents. As we were standing there discussing our options my Dad recognized a friend of his standing there. It just so happened that the tents belonged to this friend's in-laws and she invited us to a prime, front row, spot with a tent to boot! We got so lucky! Her in-laws had been camped out there since 3:00 a.m.

That is the end of our Fourth of July festivities. 

 It was speckled with some drama but all in all it was a huge success!!